4 Shows. 5 Weeks. 1 Gala. Our First Spring Tour & One-Year Anniversary!!!

You read the title right; we are busy ladies and gents here at LDC as of late. Read below to learn more about latest rehearsals and upcoming events!

MHC Commencement Concert

Saturday, May 21 @ 2:00 - 3:00pm

Mount Holyoke College Studio Theatre, Kendall Hall

Tickets: FREE

Luminarium has been invited to perform in this year's Commencement Concert at Mount Holyoke College, just in time to celebrate Co-Directors Kim and Merli (and Company Member Louise)'s 2-year reunion. Has it really been two years?? This fun, upbeat concert showcases brief works by the graduating seniors, and will include a 10-minute excerpt of Luminarium's soon-to-premiere piece you have hands, too? FREE and open to the public, if you're in Western Mass and haven't had the chance to travel to Boston for a taste of our choreography, now's the best chance to check us out!

LEAP: Leading & Engaging Artistic Pursuits

Friday, May 27 @7:30pm

Cambridge Family YMCA Theatre, Central Square, Cambridge Mass

Tickets: $8 Students/Seniors; $10 General Admission

With help from the President’s Innovation Fund Grant through the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston and abundant donations from over 50 contributors, Luminarium presents LEAP, a culmination to the “Performing Arts Project” with members of the Jordan Boys & Girls Club. Join us for a night of professional and exceptional dance, as we present the full 20-minute version of you have hands, too?, as well as a dance piece set on members of the club by Kim, a violin-accompanied solo featuring artwork from the kids by Merli, our film Everything But Blue, and more. Come support young artists and professionals working together to bring dancing to all!

Dance for World Community

Saturday, June 11

Harvard Square, Cambridge Mass

The jury's still out on who will be performing in this year's Dance for World Community, hosted by Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre, but regardless of whether or not Luminarium is selected, we strongly urge everyone to attend. Imagine a full day of indoor (inside the beautiful church of BTB) and outdoor (scattered throughout the festivities of Harvard Square) dance. How can you miss it? Stay tuned to find out THIS WEEK if Luminarium will be making an appearance at this fabulous event.

IN SYNC / Sambandh (Together)

Saturday, June 18 @ 7:00pm

Williston Theatre, Easthampton Mass

Tickets: $20; 12 and under $10

For this event, Luminarium will travel to Western Mass a second time to end its Spring Tour and to join Nataraj Dancers and invited musicians to perform in a fundraiser for Japan. This performance will be a beautiful blend of Japanese koto music, classical Indian dance, traditional drums, and multimedia contemporary dance. The show is especially important to Director Merli, as she is a member of Nataraj Dancers and performed with the company in Japan in the summer of 2009. Luminarium will be presenting Casting Shadows, Tearing Holes, first presented at FRACTURE back in October. The piece deals with memory, loss and time, and can be viewed in part here:

Enjoy!

And finally...

Sponsor Benefit Gala

Sunday, June 26 @ 6:00 - 8:00pm

AKA Bistro Restaurant, Lincoln Mass

Tickets: $45 per Adult (including one FREE drink ticket); $40 BDA Members (also including drink ticket); *A limited number of student tickets are available for $25 (no drink ticket included); FREE to all of our donors at the Community Sponsor Level or higher (including one free drink ticket).

Join us as we celebrate one full year of Luminarium at Lincoln's finest French/Japanese restaurant AKA Bistro. Enjoy free hors-d'oeuvres and a drink on us, as you mingle with company members, view footage of our past events, bid in a silent auction, and listen to sweet live jazz. Weather permitting, we will wander onto the outdoor patio, and blow out the candles to mark one year since the foundation of LDC. Please note, this event is by reservation only, so keep your eyes peeled for our soon-to-come online ticket reservation site!

Now for some giggles!

Rehearsals have been going very well as we prepare for all of the many events beginning in just 7 days! you have hands, too? is Kim and Merli's first co-choreographed piece, and we've had a lot of laughs along the way. Here are a few small clips of scenes from the piece...

So stay tuned for info on reserving tickets to our upcoming shows, and in the meantime, spread the word to your friends, family and fellow art-lovers by sending and posting a link to this blog entry, please.

Many thanks!
This post brought to you by...
Merli

Film on the Brain...

Lately, we have been in a film frenzy!

After our successful Kickstarter campaign, we decided to let our supporters in on the actual filming process.  So many people had commented on how professional and polished our campaign video was, but we knew what had really happened.

Get in on the silliness here... and bear witness to our giggles, awkward smile moments, many mistakes, and one mischievous pup!

As the real reward to those who brought us success, we premiered our first dance film as a company, 'Everything But Blue', and most recently uploaded it to Youtube for YOUR viewing pleasure.

Watch here!

'Everything But Blue' (the film) is a physical exploration of escaping the ordinary.  The film opens with some glimpses of everyday routine.  Work, public transportation, monotony, boredom; all are things one has to do or endure.  As internal frustration builds, viewers are teased with flashes of a sparkly earring, a lipstick application and other moments that seem completely random to the film so far.  However, with the opening strains of ‘Indigo’ (P. Mikkelborg, M. Davis) seven individuals clad in tattered but glitzy party wear begin a wild run that takes them the farthest away from their drab environments.  The original Everything But Blue was a staged dance piece, serving to portray an absurd alternative to heady contemporary dance.  There was no reason or subliminal meaning behind it, the piece provided a ‘why not’ approach to concert dance with carefree energy and body shapes in space.  The film version of Everything But Blue, filmed throughout Boston and Cambridge, served to provide the same ideas in a greater context of a life that anyone could connect to.  The film serves to provide not just an escape alternative to the stage but to the common individual’s life routine; would it be deconstructive or liberating to run out of your own life in this style?  

As always, comments, reviews and thoughts on our work is appreciated and enjoyed.  You can leave it on youtube, on our facebook page, or on our website!

Thanks to Michael Russell, who majorly helped us shoot the film, and to Dow Brain, who lent us equipment!  Also, MAJOR thanks to our lovely dancers.  This film was shot all over Boston and Cambridge in November of 2010, and it was FREEZING.  Somehow no one complained or even questioned why on earth we were going to dance in party dresses outdoors... and better yet, you can't tell by watching their fabulous movement that their muscles are icy cold!  THANK YOU lovely dancers.  

Past Week in Review... Kickstarter Campaign and Film Premiere!

Before I jump into an update of all the wonderful things that we have been up to, Merli and I both agree we need to blog more often... even if just to archive the ongoing development of Luminarium!  Awkward apology aside, things have been AMAZING in dance-company-land... read on for more details!

This past week was quite intense- our Kickstarter campaign ended on Friday (4/22) and the week was spent in suspense, both of us wondering if we would make our goal.  For anyone that is wondering what Kickstarter is, the best way I can summarize is that it is a website for creators to find funding for a project.  There are probably thousands of great ideas, projects and products that people thought up from major cities all across the US, and each creates a video about their project.  You set a goal, and if you reach the goal you get to keep the funds donated to you from online donors.  Our project was described here, we set a $2000 goal, with 1$ minimum donations and 18 days to do it.  While we had many fabulous donors who eagerly contributed right off the bat, there was a moment in time (mid-week 2) we sort of lost momentum.  We held our breath for a couple of days, and then all of a sudden we were right back on track!  Our Kickstarter ended Friday at midnight, with $2100 raised, and 42 fabulous backers that donated to our project.

As a reward to our backers and for the enjoyment of our friends and fans, we coordinated the release and premiere of our dance film 'Everything But Blue' with the ending of our Kickstarter campaign.  We went back to the Dance Complex's Thompson Theatre, where we held our very first concert last October, and were pleased to host a good sized crowd of dancers, families, friends and community members.  A large group of lovely Mount Holyoke women came out  to support us and catch the first showing of the film- it was so sweet.

As you can see, Twyla Juniper Lollipop (company muse/mascot/film location scout/morale booster) was in attendance- mainly because she had a cameo in our Kickstarter video, and she was definitely the star of our blooper reel.  We showed the reel, to many laughs, and then unveiled 'Everything But Blue' to the public for the first time!!

To give a bit of background, 'Everything But Blue' was originally just a piece of choreography.  I showed it in 'FRACTURE' in the fall, and really enjoyed the work.  Set to 'Indigo'- a piece of music made famous by Miles Davis (composed by P. Mikkelborg) EBB is a six minute wild whirlwind of dance showcasing several dancers in crazy party dresses.  Merli had the awesome idea to make it into a film, and we collaborated in making the piece suitable for film, and then we shot it and edited it in a few days last November (more info about the film, and the film itself, in a future post).

I am happy to say the film was VERY well received on Friday night.  Since it is short, we ended up playing it several times, and our audience gave great feedback.

Another Friday night high was seeing how many people wanted to purchase our new company tee shirts.  Of course we are in love with them, but sometime after we had placed an order for 60 shirts we began the nervous though-process of "did we really just order 60 shirts?... are people going to buy these?... what are we going to do with the extras??"  Luckily, not only did we have a bunch of backers that earned them by donating large amounts of money, but so many people wanted to buy them!  It is only two nights later and we are out of a couple sizes already... good thing we can order more fairly easily.


  (Left) Back of the navy shirt...a mock light-plot with creative details.  In the far corner is a front view of the brilliant blue shirt.

  (Below) The front of our bright blue shirt, with Luminarium's signature dancer silhouettes.  Next to it is the front design of the navy shirt.





Shirts are available at Luminarium events, or can be purchased through Merli, Kim or a company member.  Each shirt is $20.00, is available in a variety of sizes, and can be shipped for the cost of postage.  Email luminarium.dance@gmail.com for details.


To sum up this massive post, I think it's important to mention that we are feeling very solid as a company.  We have so much going on; new projects and new work underway, new sponsors and funding to make our goals possible, great dancers, and SO much support!  I feel very lucky to have been successful thus far in our venture, and am excited to see where we can go from here.

Thanks for reading!

Kim

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Stay tuned for info about:

-Our May/June New England tour
-Luminarium Sponsor Benefit (June 26, 2011)
-New Sponsors
-Fall Performances
-Creative process and new work...

A massive update!

First off, let's start with the most important and exciting news. Luminarium has just launched its first Kickstarter.com Campaign, and is quickly raising funds to provide underprivileged children exposure to the arts as a profession. We are excited to raise the money, as it will allow us to embark on our Performing Arts Project with the kids of the Jordan Boys & Girls Club. Please visit the link below to view our video, and to learn more about the rewards offered with donations:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ldc/performing-arts-project-bringing-art-to-underserve

T-SHIRTS! We now have t-shirts! With two fun and fabulous designs to choose from, how can you go wrong? View our American Apparel jersey-knit tees here for info on sizing and ordering (just $20 each!):

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Luminarium-Dance/146299155387519

In the PAST...

Co-founders Merli and Kim recently spoke on a panel at Mount Holyoke College about succeeding in the arts after graduation. It was a wonderful event, complete with an insightful lecture by Jane Hammond and a viewing of the Five College Dance Dept Faculty Show in the evening. If for no other reason, it was good to spread the word of our company out in Western Mass...

NOW...

We have recently begun working on our final chapter of our Upon | Within Project: a project that explores our sense of "self," and the internal and external forces that act upon and within us each day. This final piece is a celebration of self, life, and individuality, and so far it has been a very fun piece to create. Rehearsals are often full of laughter, as we experiment with humor, timing, and intricate layering of quick phrases. View the film above for a sample of the piece!

Luminarium Updates...

Stay tuned for more updates, events, and glimpses into our creative process...